Get someone else to do your Xmas shopping or free
Updated: Apr 16

Let's be honest, Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year. The pace ramps up, and suddenly there's no time to do anything, and before you know it that gift you waited until the last minute to buy is out of stock.
It doesn't have to be this way, and in the shortest blog post ever, I'm going to tell you why.
Business owners, professionals, and entrepreneurs don't always have the time to go shopping, and sometimes, not even online shopping. They are the guys working irregular hours and Christmas gifts somehow end up at the bottom of your priority list. Here's what you need to do:
Put together a very simple spreadsheet with five columns, they will be titled: Name, Age, Likes, Budget, Avoid, 3 Ideas. Next, fill those in for the people you need to buy gifts for and make sure to include in the avoid column, important details like dietary requirements. If you can't think of any likes, leave them blank.
Now you have your list, you need to give it to someone. Virtual Assistants like myself usually offer a free trial of our services, I offer an hour which is on par with what you will find elsewhere, but it doesn't help to look if you want to get more time for free, although that might defy the point of what you're trying to achieve...Let's say you chose my one-hour free trial, you would send me your list and I would look at your requirements for each person, and then fill in the top 3 gift ideas I find for each one, using links for each idea, you can easily click on to buy the ones you like the sound of.
Alternatively, and if time permits, you could choose to share your card details or PayPal info (I recommend doing this safely via a Password Manager like 1Password), have your VA order the gifts, and even choose gift wrapping if you prefer.
Viola! That's all it takes to ring the jingle bells out of Xmas shopping and to come out on top smelling of mistletoe! To give you something to think about, if you used my services (as an example) after your free trial ends, you could then choose the £30 pay-as-you-go option so I can finish the job as per step three, and you've just had someone take 2 hours out of your life sorting Christmas out for just £30. You would have spent that de-stressing at a spa, let's face it.
Here's the link for a free spreadsheet template.